Georgetown : The record rainfall which occurred on November 20 resulted in flooding in the capital, Georgetown, lower East Bank Demerara, West Bank Demerara, Essequibo Coast, and villages in Region Four being flooded.
President Ramotar visited several communities and drainage infrastructure to personally assess not only the effects of the accumulated water, but also to check the stepped up efforts to drain flooded areas. Areas visited included Paradise and Cane Grove.
The President noted that a lot of people have suffered due to the heavy rainfall, but said he was assured that the Public Works officials, and others responsible for drainage and irrigation, are doing everything possible to alleviate the problems encountered.
“We will continue to follow it to see that we bring some ease to the situation as fast as possile”.
The Agriculture Ministry today said that significant rainfall is expected in the next 72 hours that will result in flooding conditions. Sunday, it said is likely to be worse.
Rainfall records for the past 24 hours show the highest rainfall of 260.0mm was recorded at Railway line, Mahaicony in Region 5.
Despite a large amount of water receding after the record breaking rainfall, the team of officials which comprised, Public Works Minister Robeson Benn, Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth, and other officials and engineers were busy ensuring that all pumps and drainage outfalls were working optimally to provide relief.
Based on an assessment done by engineers following the heavy rainfall on November 20, the highest recorded in Georgetown was 186 millimeters, (7.25 inches) in a 24 – hour period.
Minister Benn reminded said that the drainage systems located on the Coast are designed to take off 1.5 inches of rainfall in any 24- hour period, hence the reason for the significant flooding.
“We have 5 or 6 percent more than the normal rainfall that can be handled through the drainage infrastructure on the coast …given the difficulty of excessive rainfall, we expect over the next two to three days, there will still be water on the ground…we are not the only affected country, you might know that there is this low pressure system also hanging over Trinidad which resulted in significant flooding in that country,” Minister Benn said. Teams of engineers and officials today visited all kokers and sluices in Regions Two, Three and Four to ensure they are functional. It was found that while most of the pumps and sluices are working, there is the issue of siltation in some areas.
Workers were t cleaning garbage across city areas to ensure smooth drain off of water.
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